Hello, Birders. With a general northerly windflow continuing, there was again a decent push of nocturnal migrants over Greenlee Preserve, eastern Boulder County, earlier "today," Thursday, Aug. 20th. The highlight was an Upland Sandpiper. I've seen or heard the species in Bent, Otero, and Boulder Counties during the past 3 weeks, and it occurs to me that maybe there is a more westerly component to this species' passage through Colorado than we had previously realized. (After all, they breed well to the northwest of us, plus they are regular in double digits on fall migration in New Mexico west to the Rio Grande.) Or maybe it's just been an unusual fall for them here, with an atypical westerly component to their migraton. Anyhow, great to hear one, loud and clear, over Boulder County. Meanwhile, passerines were moving over at 80+ flight calls per hour in the 4am-5am hour. We're at the beginning of peak diversity and peak intensity of nocturnal migration in Colorado now; I would say that period runs from around Aug. 20th till around Sept. 15th. Stuff up there earlier today included Yellow and Wilson's Warblers, Chipping Sparrows and Lark Sparrows, and presumed Western Tanagers, Brewer's and Vesper Sparrows, and Black-headed Grosbeaks. The resident-but-irregular Barn Owl was out and about, hunting over near the houses just west of Greenlee Reservoir. The bird sure is hard to pin down; I see or hear it on 1 out of maybe 4 or 5 nighttime excursions out there. I imagine it's roosting (or breeding?) somewhere offsite (north of Baseline Road somewhere?), and that it's using the open areas around Greenlee/Waneka for hunting. Plenty of mice (=food) squeaking in the grass, that's for sure. ------------------------------- Ted Floyd [email protected] Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding ------------------------------- Please support the American Birding Association: Click on http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=884482 to search the internet. Check out the American Birding Association on FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=22934255714 Check out the American Birding Association on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abaoutreach Please visit the website of the American Birding Association: http://www.aba.org _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live: Keep your friends up to date with what you do online. http://windowslive.com/Campaign/SocialNetworking?ocid=PID23285::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:SI_SB_online:082009 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/
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